State education department probes data ‘scrubbing’ by schools

Columbus school attendance scandal

Columbus City Schools employees -- and perhaps others in schools throughout the state -- are accused of falsifying students' records to improve their schools' standing on state report cards. Read the complete series.

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Columbus City Schools and eight other Ohio districts are now under investigation by the Ohio
Department of Education for misrepresenting student enrollment data, meaning they could lose
funding and educators who cheated could lose their licenses.

The department is releasing official district and school report cards for the 2011-12 school
year today, about six months late, because of a statewide investigation into data rigging. But for
districts that cheated, report cards for the past two years could be recalculated after the
department reviews their data.

For those nine districts where the state auditor found evidence that employees “scrubbed” data,
school report cards will appear with a disclaimer that says the results “are under review” and
could change.

“Every school in those districts will have their report cards ‘watermarked’ ” with the
disclaimer, even if individual schools in those districts were not found to have scrubbed data,
said John Charlton, spokesman for the state Department of Education.

In addition to Columbus, the other eight districts where evidence of scrubbing was found are:
Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Marion, Toledo, Campbell in Mahoning County, Northridge in
Montgomery County and Winton Woods in Hamilton County.

The state auditor found that each district illegally withdrew students — as if they had left
school even though they hadn’t — and that knocked those students’ test scores and absences out of
state report-card ratings. The result inflated districts’ rankings.

The department sent letters to those districts last week that said it is opening its own
investigation into the accuracy of their data.

“Misrepresenting student enrollment status, and thus, reporting inaccurate data” is a violation
of Ohio law, the letters said. Sanctions can include the revocation of state funds and educator
certificates for anyone involved, the letters say.

Charlton couldn’t say when the new probe would end.

Also, 52 other school districts where auditors found errors in data-reporting that didn’t appear
to be the result of intentional scrubbing received letters informing them that they have until
March 15 to submit corrective-action plans to the department. Those letters relate to errors found
in the submissions from a total of 74 school buildings in those districts.

“Should your district have multiple school buildings with one or more errors identified, please
ensure that the plan you submit for corrective action is school building specific,” the letters to
those districts say. They note that failure to file the corrective plan could lead to
sanctions.

The rest of the state’s 614 school districts are in the clear.

State Auditor Dave Yost continues to conduct a special audit of Columbus City Schools, a probe
that began last summer after
The Dispatch reported that several district employees said a conspiracy existed to alter
thousands of student records each year.

Two district officials and a Columbus police officer who worked at a district high school have
thus far resigned. The FBI also is investigating.

Yost referred the nine districts to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector
General, which could work with federal prosecutors if criminal wrongdoing involving federal
education funds is involved.